I spent years of my youth combing the beaches of Martha's Vineyard and collecting unique and beautifully organic pieces such as barnacles, shark vertebrae and baby crab shells which I displayed around my apartment. After I had graduated from Parsons the New School for Design, I decided to take a intensive metal-smithing class at Brooklyn's favorite art collective: 3rd Ward. Our first project was to construct out of wax and, while brainstorming for designs, I kept wondering which pieces from my combing days I could incorporate into the piece. I landed on a small piece of driftwood—which became my first product—and the rest is history.